


A trust that can only break

by goodbyelover



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Fairy Tale Curses, Grave Robbers, Injury, M/M, Magic-Users, Minor Violence, Not By The Moon Inspired, Quests, Unresolved Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23973202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodbyelover/pseuds/goodbyelover
Summary: Moonlight lit the path as they entered the graveyard, Jaebum quietly stalking ahead and Youngjae following at a more steady pace. The journey to this forgotten burial ground, this rotted remnant of a long lost society, had been arduous and long, but there was no room for respite.Jaebum and Youngjae had been searching for so long, Youngjae only prayed they could find what they needed in time.
Relationships: Choi Youngjae/Im Jaebum | JB
Comments: 13
Kudos: 23





	A trust that can only break

**Author's Note:**

> NBTM just really felt inspiring and I decided to get this out of my system lol
> 
> Beta'd by @maricolous ❤️

Moonlight lit the path as they entered the graveyard, Jaebum quietly stalking ahead and Youngjae following at a more steady pace. The journey to this forgotten burial ground, this rotted remnant of a long lost society, had been arduous and long, but there was no room for respite.

Jaebum had been irritable the entire journey, quiet and brooding in a way that Youngjae couldn’t unravel. They’d spent most of the time traveling in silence, because Jaebum had ended up snapping at just about anything coming out of Youngjae’s mouth.

Youngjae knew that Jaebum and Jinyoung had argued heatedly before they’d parted ways, but he found it wholly unfair for Jaebum to take it out on him. For the time being, he kept his distance, hoping that whatever seethed inside Jaebum’s head would pass on its own.

A storm was beginning to brew in the distance, clouds moving in to obscure the moon where she hung high in the sky. Jaebum didn’t pause, just reached in to pull out his witchlight, holding it high to light the path. He didn’t look back at Youngjae, simply pressed deeper amongst the broken tombstones and statues.

Youngjae gritted his teeth and followed. Neither of them could afford to bicker at this point – they had both heard the howl of cursed things in the distance. They were too far off for Youngjae to sense, but they were surely on their way. They needed to be swift.

He nearly ran into Jaebum when the man stopped dead in front of the final crypt, built into the mountain itself, his witchlight casting its beam on a stone carving of a sun being eclipsed by the moon, even as their own moon was hidden. The air felt brittle in this place, having slept for so long without the stir of living breath. It was still magnificent, despite the decay surrounding it. Maybe Jinyoung’s endless searching had finally found something. Perhaps this really was where the Godking was laid to rest.

“Focus,” Jaebum said, and Youngjae did his best not to bristle at the clear rebuke in his voice. “You’ll have to open it without bringing the crypt down on top of us.”

“You could just ask,” Youngjae muttered, stepping around Jaebum to reach towards the moon. It felt terribly cold, nipping at his fingertips when he touched it. He set that aside for the moment, closing his eyes and reaching into the stone itself, searching for the protective seals that surely guarded such a grand tomb. Silver tendrils of light unfurled down his arm, following his fingertips and sinking into the stone.

Something hidden within the stone glimmered in his mind’s eye and he chased it, looping a string of silver around it and pulling it towards him. It came snapping out of the stone and into his free hand, the smack of a golden coin 

“That can’t be it,” Jaebum said. Even without looking, Youngjae could tell he was impatient.

“It’s safer to disable them one at a time,” Youngjae said, tossing the coin over his shoulder at Jaebum. “Will you just give me a minute? Nothing has come for us yet.”

“Yet,” Jaebum growled, and Youngjae chose to ignore him in favor of reaching back into the crypt’s door. There were several other seals to undo, Youngjae acquiring a white crow’s feather, a black pearl, and a strand of mermaid hair.

It was just as he was pulling the mermaid hair away that he felt something else brush against his ropes of magic, something dark and hungry. He swore, jerking his hand back, silver withdrawing into him, but the thing came howling after him, ravenous for a taste as Youngjae threw a shield up around himself.

Jaebum’s hand snapped into view, catching a needle carved from a cursed black opal before it could try to pierce Youngjae’s heart.

“That’s  _ nasty _ ,” Youngjae said, reaching to brush a fingertip over the needle. Whatever this black opal contained, it would have tried to corrupt Youngjae’s heart the moment it broke skin. 

Jaebum just looked furious as he snapped the needle in half and rendered the curse useless. “Why are you being so careless? You know what’s at stake, Youngjae.”

“You know, I was going to thank you,” Youngjae said. They absolutely were going to fight it out properly once they left this place. Youngjae couldn’t handle an entire journey back to Jinyoung’s estate like this.

Jaebum’s lips just twisted further. “Focus.”

“Yes,  _ sir,”  _ Youngjae snapped, turning back to the crypt and reaching a glowing silver hand out to rip the stone from the mountain just enough for them to get inside. He shouldn’t let his temper get the better of him, but he resented when Jaebum treated him like a child after all this time. Surely he deserved more than that after all they’d been through together.

Jaebum led the way inside with the witchlight held high. The inside of the crypt was cavernous, larger than Youngjae had realized while he’d been disabling the seals. It felt as if one of Jackson’s fancy soirees could easily take place here without feeling crowded, and Youngjae wondered if perhaps this place had been something else before it had become the final resting place of the dead. There were pedestals spread throughout the crypt, covered in precious things, kept away from the elements and seemingly untouched by the passage of time. 

But at the back, where Youngjae’s eyes were drawn, stood a tomb atop a dais. 

“Is that really him?” Youngjae asked. They’d been searching for so long.

The tension in Jaebum’s expression had only increased since they’d entered and he looked near haunted by the place. “Only one way to find out.”

Youngjae carefully made his way to the tomb, not touching anything yet. There would be time for that once they found what they were looking for. The Godking’s crown. 

Holding his breath, Youngjae touched the tomb lid, a familiar prickle of cold shooting up his fingertips, like the crypt door as he moved it aside. He ached for a victory, for them to finally gain the upper hand, to give Jackson something after the loss of the western coast.

The stone slab slid off, falling to the side with a loud thunk, Youngjae not catching it because he was too busy staring down into the tomb itself.

It was  _ empty _ .

“No,” he muttered, a hand clapping over his mouth as he stared down at it in horror. It was  _ empty _ . There wasn’t a skeleton or the remains of a body or even the fucking crown, it was just… empty. “Damn. Jaebum, who told us to come here, this is–” 

Something white hot pierced his shoulder, stabbing deep into the flesh.

Wordlessly crying in pain, Youngjae whirled around, instantly falling against the tomb as he lost his balance, knees already weak. Before him stood Jaebum, a white opal blade in hand, dripping with blood.

Dripping with  _ Youngjae’s _ blood.

Realization dawned on Youngjae as he felt his fingertips start to go numb, his legs refusing to hold his weight. Now it made sense. The way Jinyoung and Jaebum had argued before they’d set off on this journey, Jaebum’s surliness the entire way here, the strain in Jaebum’s shoulder since they’d entered the crypt. More than the wound in his shoulder, he felt the invasive paralysis of the blade’s curse working into him, so close to his unguarded heart.

“Why–” he managed, fighting to breathe as the curse sank deep. Jaebum had  _ promised _ him. Had looked Youngjae in the eye and swore they’d get through this together. They’d traveled side by side for so many seasons, how could it come to this?

“I’m sorry,” Jaebum said, dropping the blade and helping Youngjae sink to the ground, hands as gentle and caring as they’d always been. “I had to. There was no other way to keep you safe.” He looked heartbroken as he said it, his voice wrecked. “You’ll… when this is all over, you’ll understand.”

“Don’t–” Youngjae tried, but his tongue was heavy and so were his eyes. His heartbeat fought to beat wildly, but the curse wrapped so tight around it that it was forced to stop.

“You don’t have to forgive me,” Jaebum whispered as Youngjae’s consciousness was finally buried deep under the curse’s hold. “I’ll come back for you, I promise.”

Then all faded to black and Youngjae was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Youngjae being entombed was just v inspiring u_ub 
> 
> Probably not going to expand this as I was hoping to work on a Tortall-esque AU that would resemble this instead lol


End file.
